Cristina BanBan “Del Llanto”

Albertz Benda

poster for Cristina BanBan “Del Llanto”
[Image: Cristina BanBan "A las diez en casa" (2021) oil on canvas, 60h x 86w in.]

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1969 Gallery presents a joint exhibition in collaboration with albertz benda, New York, of works by 33-year-old Spanish painter Cristina BanBan. This comprehensive show, on view concurrently at both galleries, arrives at a pivotal moment in BanBan’s practice. Working for the first time in oil paint, BanBan will debut a new body of canvases and works on paper made over the past year, furthering her exploration of the personal through exaggerated depictions of the female form.

Allegorical in scope, BanBan’s newest work departs from overt narrative content while maintaining her interest in autobiographical themes. Their emotive compositional spaces communicate moods derived from the artist’s memories and private experiences. Coded personal symbols such as the stalks of Spanish wheat in Tres dones descansant al Delta or kitchen tiles in La pena de Pilar are suggestive of a nostalgic longing for home, while the studio table lurking in the dense background of Sentadita te pensaba may refer to feelings of creative anxiety or doubt. BanBan’s densely layered brushstrokes and large, distorted bodies advance her characteristic style and reveal an emergent, still-evolving formal language developing in response to the material properties of oil paint. Influenced by Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud and Joaquin Sorolla, this new body of work displays a darker, more complex consideration than has been previously rendered.

The works are permeated with a sense of bereavement and vulnerability, reflecting a year of cultural and political unpredictability and disruption. The figures’ hands and feet are inflated and warped, at times resulting in moments of alluring abstraction as they weave through space, often domestic, dominating and uniting bodies to a point of differentiation. Visible underpainting, frenetic brushwork, dramatic drips, and smears of paint emphasize the increased tactility of the medium in contrast with the plasticity of acrylics and the airiness of soft pastels.

Brought together, these paintings catalog a range of psychological states experienced by the artist. BanBan explains, “I definitely focus on how I am feeling because that energy will dictate how the painting will look. I have to connect with myself. Painting is a very honest act for me.”

Media

Schedule

from May 05, 2021 to June 12, 2021

Opening Reception on 2021-05-05 from 18:00 to 20:00

Artist(s)

Cristina BanBan

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